Burning Alive
by The One Who Is All
Summary: "I can smell something burning and I don't think I want to know what it is. I just hope I don't die here and survive long enough to know why." Just how long will Cassie be able to survive in a world that's not her own?


**Disclaimer: I own nothing and probably never will.**

**Chapter 1**

_When I was younger I would dream of dark places with fires that burned cold. I dreamt of being taken to a broken coliseum with a lady whose face was always blurred. All around me, I saw people I knew (maybe I knew them once,) being marched down the stairs. I and two boys walked to the middle of the room and went down the hole. I fell and could feel the wind rushing past me, watched as the strange blackish-red sky grew farther and farther away. Strangely, I never grew afraid of what was at the bottom. Just resigned. After a while, I would jolt awake in bed, the sun streaming through my shades. As the years pass the dreams stop. I never learned what was at the bottom of that hole. Hopefully I never will._

"Today was a strange day." I remark to Claire, as I heave my large backpack onto the floor in front of my desk. She just sighs, used to my randomness. We have after all, known each other since middle school. Claire peers over her glasses to study me.

"You look more tired than you usually do" she points out, "I swear, if I didn't know you Cassie, I'd think you were a vampire."

Funny, considering she is the pale one.

"I blame my brain. Its running too fast to slow down", my voice changing as I pull myself upside down on my bed. Claire, who I mentally curse for being logical, snorts and replies "I saw the light on last night, you were reading."

"Books are meat for the brain" I argue as I throw a pillow at her. "Besides, if I don't read, then I'm just awkwardly sitting in bed in the dark." It's odd that I dislike sitting in the dark doing nothing so much, considering I love the dark itself. My mom and dad used to yell at me to turn off the light when I would stay up reading.

Claire just snorts at me and walks to the bathroom to change. I grab my pajamas and toothbrush, waiting for her to finish up. Claire rubs her eyes as she sits on her bed, already for bed. I mock-skip past her into the bathroom.

I turn the faucet on and peer at myself through the dirty glass. Claire was right; I did look like a vampire. My skin it seemed, for all its Sicilian glory, was absolute crap in the winter.

I blame my dad.

After I'm all done, I go back into mine and Claire's room and turn off the light.

"Remember!" Claire suddenly calls, "Rachel invited us to her room for pizza tomorrow."

I grunt, unwilling to expend energy in order to answer her. Our friend Rachel was probably going to be the one to destroy the world. No joke. I should probably fear for the continuity of the human race. Rachel decided early on that she wanted to be a geneticist. She would probably try a make a unicorn by crossing DNA and end up creating a new species that ate people's heads off.

It also didn't help that she also looked so . . . blank, I guess. We all figure that she has some mild autism, though she never said anything about it. Or she's devising a plan on how to murder someone and not get caught. Hannah (her roommate and our other friend) would probably help her.

Soon, I could hear Claire's soft breathing as she exhaled and inhaled. I let my mind drift and relax.

_I'm sitting in some kind of room. I see two men, one that's really tall, yelling at the other, pleading for him to understand, he __**must**__ understand. The smaller one is scoffing and sneering at the other, telling him it's wrong and he won't ever understand._

_There are other people around me, crying and looking at the argument in sadness. I feel tears streaming down my face (why was I crying? What was happening? ) as the smaller male storms away, seemingly making earthquakes. Everyone else starts yelling and shouting and fighting. Fists are coming out and people start tackling each other. I turn around just to see a weird knife thingy coming at my head._

I jump out of bed and tumble onto the floor, breathless. Sunlight is streaming through the window and I can hear birds chirping. They should probably shut the fuck up before some pissed person that spent the night studying goes after them with a shotgun. Probably me.

I swear that was the strangest dream I have ever had. Even more so than the one where I keep unmasking someone and all they are wearing is a mask. Somehow though, that dream started with Swan Lake. Don't know how or why. It was strange. It might have ended with unicorn puking rainbow chocolate.

I yell goodbye to Claire, who is calmly sipping her morning coffee. She is lucky enough not to have to go to a class early in the morning.

Claire and I walk start to run towards Rachel's, which is unfortunately, on the other side of the campus. A storm is brewing overhead, looking like it's about to slurp us up and never spit us back out.

We finally arrive at Rachel's dorm, the old ivy creeping up on the walls. Rachel opens the door and waves us inside. Her room, which is shared with Hannah (she is at her parents this weekend for her sister's baby shower) is warm and cozy inside. The pizza is already there, along with what looks to be a batch of her homemade chocolate wasted cupcakes. There are also candles scattered around the room. "Precautions for the store" Rachel tells us, "supposed to be a nasty one tonight".

Sarah's is already here, halfway through a slice of pizza. She waves to us in greeting. "Glad you guys made it, didn't think that you would be able to get here if the storm hit."

A crack of thunder comes from outside, as if to agree with her statement. Rachel gives a small smile, though it looks somewhat pained. She casts the curtain back a bit and quickly joins the small circle we have formed.

"Chances are you will probably be stranded here and unable to get back to your own rooms." She intones.

Claire and Sarah protest, saying that we all will be fine and to not be such a worrywart. The rain's starting now, each clap of thunder followed by a flash of light that almost makes me feel like we are getting our picture taken.

All of a sudden, the lights go out. Rachel sighs, as if she anticipated this (knowing her, she did). She gets up (I think? Someone's moving) and yells "Careful, getting a match, stay away!"

An eerie yellow light is cast upon us as Rachel lights each candle. We are all quiet, a little shaken up from the sudden darkness and low light. The thunder seems louder now, as if it was waiting for just the right moment to make itself known. The lightning is back, this time making dark shadows on the wall. We all jump a little.

Rachel turns to me and mouths "I'm sorry". Before I can ask her why, the room is entirely lit up. There is a cracking sound and burning smell. My skin feels odd, like I'm getting shocked but it's not reaching my pain receptors.

The entire room is frozen; Claire, Rachel, and Sarah are no longer moving. Then their image zooms away, and I feel air rushing past me. I feel like something is pulling me by my waist.

The bright light looks like its closing in; I hear another great crack and I know no more.


End file.
